One of the first poems I remember reading while working on my English degree, several years ago now, was this one by William Wordsworth. Because of this I never forgot it but it also stuck out in my mind as it was so beautiful and innocent.
William Wordsworth hailed from the Romantic period of English Literature. Later on, his work would be scoffed at as too conservative, too happy-happy to be taken seriously–just the kind of thought that may have helped inspire Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the much less innocent work of the late Victorian Era as well as writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorn.
I still love this poem though. Innocence isn’t always a bad thing… just unrealistic.
Hope everyone has a great Wordy Wednesday.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

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perfect !!!
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Thank you!
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Kinetic, JoAnn, inspiring bursts of thoughts. Where to begin?…Focus!…OK…
First, agreed most enthusiastically, daffodils are glorious. There’s a spot nearby where the roadside banks into a curve, and from it late each March a stream of golden flowers surfaces. Taking in the springtime show is one of driving’s sublime motivations.
As an ex-Northerner yourself, you doubtless appreciate how that yellow sparkles exuberantly after a seemingly-endless winter of browns and greys.
As for Wordsworth’s “happy-happy,” I recognize in myself a similar condition. Allow me to rise in defense.
Doesn’t that enthusiasm reflect reality too, part of life’s duality? Much as our challenges deserve attention, and cry out for discussion and improvement, something has to inspire the necessary reforms, right? Our dreams invest these efforts, these visions, with the energy to sustain them.
The ideal never may be attained (though it is at times – Mozart, turtle brownies…), but it does loft high the trumpet’s call, and it provides plenty of fuel for the journey there, don’t you think?
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Yes, I am glad that we have or have had our Wordsworths in the world. They lend so much to enjoyment and appreciation of beauty.
Focus, sometimes that can be difficult in a sea full of craziness. I am glad for all the beautiful flowers though!
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I sometimes pay attention to the words that songwriters rhyme. Song lyrics I guess might be considered to be poetry. Anyway, the rhyming word combination that I like best in this poem is mood/solitude.
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I do think that songwriters are the modern day poets, rappers especially as some are masters at rhyme. Not everyone would agree with that I’m sure.
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An outdoorsperson would read this and flash back to their own discoveries of unexpected beauty. If you are open to it, sometimes happy-happy happens.
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Yes, unexpected beauty is awesome isn’t it?
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This poem is like the beautiful flower pictures we take … a glimpse of beauty in a cruel world. Why would one scoff at that? We need that for our own sanity.
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I agree! Daffodils are so beautiful as well. 🌞🍃
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